Spring Breakout Recap: Tigers and Phillies

Zac Beck was on site in Lakeland for the spring breakout game between the Tigers and Phillies and shares some brief thoughts

Beck was on site for the Tigers and Phillies spring breakout game today. He shares a few brief thoughts on who stood out to him and who you should be paying attnetion to moving foward.

Tigers and Phillies Spring Breakout Thoughts From Beck

I am way in on Josue Briceno.

Briceno roped a double off of Mick Abel in his second inning of work. It left the bat at 111 mph, and it sure sounded like he squared it up, too. It was an impressive showing overall despite the box score reading 1-3 with a strikeout. Briceno managed a .319/.402/.529 line between rookie ball and Low-A as a 19-year-old and is well positioned to be a huge breakout candidate in 2024. If I were mentally ranking him right now, he’d be inside my top 200 for certain and probably within my top 150.

I’d take Troy Melton over Ty Madden right now.

This is a snap reaction and shouldn’t be given a ton of weight. Madden labored his way through 2.1 innings and took 46 pitches to get there. He looked better than Hurter on pure stuff alone, but Hurter’s pitchability really shined. Madden managed just one strikeout while walking two against a Tigers lineup that should have been relatively dispensable.

Melton looked great, and the stuff+ numbers backed it up. His cutter was working excellently and frankly made his fastball look average despite the latter clocking a 108 stuff+ per Thomas Nestico (@tjstats on X). If I were making a decision between Madden and Melton based on today’s looks alone (which is not advisable), I’d have a hard time taking Madden.

Aidan Miller is extremely polished.

Miller went 1-2 with an RBI single and a strikeout and looked good doing it (including the K). I was shocked that he didn’t challenge the called third strike as it looked firmly below the zone, but I trust his eye from the dish is better than mine from behind the first base dugout. He strikes me as a player who could move quickly in the Phillies’ system, if not quickly out of it by way of Dave Dombrowski. I came away very impressed with him on both sides of the ball.

The automated ball-strike system is electric.

Cristian Santana used the only challenge of the game on a 78 mph curveball that caught a lot of the zone. It happened rather quickly — the challenge was called and completed within 20 seconds — and the Phillies dugout let out a raucous laugh upon seeing the 3D replay indicate that the pitch was near middle-middle. Fans and players alike enjoyed it. I hope it comes to MLB games soon.